Ministers come forward to help Pakistani girl secure admission in Delhi school

The Delhi government has finally relented by today deciding to “relax” its rules and grant admission in its school to Madhu, a Pakistani migrant girl after Union and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj raised the issue with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Sushma Swaraj had assured help to the Pakistani girl struggling to get admission in Delhi school. Madhu, 16, had been struggling to secure admission due to lack of required documents. She said she had come to India with her mother, siblings, her uncle and cousins two years ago after they fled religious persecution in Pakistan’s Punjab province.

Sushma Swaraj had been so moved by the girl’s plight that she had sent a message to her on Twitter, asking the girl to come to her residence at 7 pm.

Sushma Swaraj on Saturday met Madhu, the Hindu girl from Pakistan struggling to get admission in a school in Delhi as she didn’t have proper documents. Swaraj immediately called Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for assistance.

The girl after meeting EAM Sushma Swaraj expressed satisfaction and said that she was now hopeful of getting admission at the earliest.

Madhu, the Pakistani Girl finally got admission in a Delhi school on Monday.

“I was struggling to get admission in school as I didn’t have an Aadhaar Card. The External Affairs Minister assured me that my admission will be done on Monday,” Madhu said.

“She spoke to Arvind Kejriwal ji regarding the same. Hope I will get admission in school at the earliest,” she added.

Approving the request for her admission, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said, “due to peculiar circumstances, the girl is not in possession of any school leaving certificate or date of birth certificate. She wants to study and on humanitarian grounds it is my considered opinion that we need to walk extra mile to accommodate her”.

“To accommodate Madhu’s request, the government can consider relaxing whatever rules and regulations, if they come in way of her joining our school,” Mr Sisodia, who is also the education minister, said in an official order.

“Accordingly admission to Madhu may immediately be provided at any of our government schools located in Sanjay Colony, Bhati Mines, Fatehpur Beri, New Delhi. She would also be given necessary books and uniform and we may facilitate whatever is required for the girl to study in our school,” the order further added.

Earlier in May, Sushma Swaraj had helped another Pakistani Hindu girl, 17-year old Mashal Maheshwari – a refugee from religious persecution – gain admission into a medical college after watching her interview on TV.

Mashal had excellent CBSE scores, but being a foreign national she didn’t meet the eligibility criteria for NEET, the common entrace exam for medical colleges.

On that occasion too Swaraj had used Twitter to communicate with Mashal, ” Don’t be disappointed my child. I will personally take up your case for admission in a medical college,” she’d said. She had personally intervened and made sure that Mashal got admission in a medical college.